Wolves, bear-baiting, and hunting dog conflict: Trading increased depredation rates for high hunter success?

Background/Question/Methods

Mitigating depredation (i.e., the killing of domestic animals by wildlife) is especially challenging between charismatic large carnivores such as grey wolves and prized pets such as hunting dogs. Actions that minimize the likelihood of depredation events are still a premium option and need for stakeholders. This need is especially so in the Great Lakes region (USA) where wolf-dog conflict is dominated by depredation of bear hunting dogs. Recent work reports a significant linear relationship between wolf abundance and dog depredation rates in Wisconsin but not in Michigan.  Dissimilar bear-baiting regulations between Michigan and Wisconsin may explain the observed difference in wolf depredation on bear-hunting dogs between the states. To examine this idea we used logistic regression to test if the probability of wolf depredation on hunting dogs is significantly related to the duration of bear baiting in each state.  Additionally, we examined the relationship between wolf abundance and the rate depredation on hunting dogs in each state for all years since wolf recovery.  The ratio of bear hunting permits sold per wolf in each state was also examined to determine if the proportion of bear hunters relative to wolves could explain differences in depredation rates between states.  

Results/Conclusions

Cumulative hunting dog depredations coincide with training or hunting with bait in each state, beginning in July in Wisconsin and August in Michigan. While the timing of the increase is similar between the states, Wisconsin depredations rates are up to 5× greater.  The log of the odds of a depredation event occurring was negatively related to both time since first instance of training with bait (p < 0.0001) and state (p < 0.0001).  The closer to the first date of training with bait the more likely it is that a depredation event will occur.  Given the same time since training with bait began, depredation events were 4.78× more likely to occur in Wisconsin than in Michigan. For all years from 1990-2010 the annual number of bear hunting permits sold per wolf was always higher in Michigan than in Wisconsin. Bear hunter success (mean  ± 1SD from 1990-2010) is higher in Wisconsin (56 ± 7.5%) than in Michigan’s (29 ± 2.9%) upper peninsula (p < 0.001). These results have identified a potential tradeoff between high bear hunting success and high wolf-hunting dog conflict.  This evidence creates additional options for understanding and mitigating wolf-human conflict via manipulation of hunting regulations.